Optical apparatus

ABSTRACT

An optical apparatus includes a light emitting device and a substrate. The light emitting device includes a base including a main body portion containing a ceramic material and wire portions exposed from the main body portion on the lower surface of the base, a lid portion fixed to the base so that a hermetically sealed space is defined by the lid portion and the base, a first semiconductor laser element emitting blue light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, a second semiconductor laser element emitting red light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, a third semiconductor laser element emitting green light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, and a collimate lens arranged on paths of the blue light, the red light and the green light. The substrate includes first metallic films electrically connected with the base of the light emitting device via the wire portions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 16/545,939, filed on Aug. 20, 2019, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/141,542, filed on Sep. 25,2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,431,959, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/566,659 filed on Oct. 2, 2017. The entiredisclosures of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/566,659 and U.S.application Ser. Nos. 16/141,542 and 16/545,939 are hereby incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a light emitting device and an opticalapparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

With respect to a light emitting device having two or more semiconductorlaser elements that have different peak wavelengths, a light emittingdevice, in which lights from the semiconductor laser elements areentered into a collimate lens to create approximately parallel light,has been known (e.g., FIG. 6 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication2000-242192)

SUMMARY

It is difficult to make the lights from the semiconductor laser elementsapproximately parallel light with high accuracy with such light emittingdevice. Also, in order to make the lights approximately parallel light,distance from a light emission end face of each of the semiconductorlaser elements to a collimate lens needs to be large and the size of thecollimate lens itself has to be large.

An optical apparatus according to one embodiment includes a lightemitting device and a substrate. The light emitting device includes abase including a main body portion containing a ceramic material andwire portions exposed from the main body portion on the lower surface ofthe base, a lid portion fixed to the base so that a hermetically sealedspace is defined by the lid portion and the base, a first semiconductorlaser element emitting blue light and provided in the hermeticallysealed space, a second semiconductor laser element emitting red lightand provided in the hermetically sealed space, a third semiconductorlaser element emitting green light and provided in the hermeticallysealed space, and a collimate lens arranged on paths of the blue light,the red light and the green light. The substrate includes first metallicfilms electrically connected with the base of the light emitting devicevia the wire portions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a light emitting device according to afirst embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view from the light extracting surface side of the lightemitting device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a section view along of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section view along IV-IV of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view of a collimate lens and others from the lightextracting surface side.

FIG. 6 is a section view along VI-VI of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a view to describe inside of a recess of a base of the lightemitting device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view to describe inside of the recess of the base of thelight emitting device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view of a substrate from the surface side, which the lightemitting device is mounted on.

FIG. 10 is a view from the light extracting surface side of a lightemitting device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a section view along XI-XI of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a view to describe inside of a recess of a base of the lightemitting device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a view from the light extracting surface side of a lightemitting device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a section view along XIV-XIV of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of an optical apparatus according to afourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a view from the light exiting surface side of the opticalapparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a result of ray-trace simulation with the optical apparatusaccording to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a result of ray-trace simulation as a comparative example.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of a light emitting device accordingto a modified embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments for implementing the present invention will be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodimentsexplained below is intended for embodying the technical concept of thepresent invention and is not for limiting the present invention. We notethat size or positional relationship of elements shown in each figurecan be exaggerated for the sake of clarity.

In the present specification, a plurality of semiconductor laserelements (hereinafter, “LD elements”) are called a first LD element 21,a second LD element 22 and a third LD element 23 according to the orderof alignment. Therefore, the peak wavelength of a LD element can bedifferent depending on the embodiment, even when it is referred with thesame term. The same can be said for lens portions, and the peakwavelength of a light passes through a lens portion can be differentdepending on the embodiment.

In the following embodiments, the light extracting surface side (theupper side of FIG. 3) of the light emitting device is the upside and theopposite side (the lower side of FIG. 3) from the light extractingsurface side of the light emitting device is the downside.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a light emitting device 120A and asubstrate 110 according to a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a top view ofthe light emitting device 120A and the substrate 110, FIG. 3 is asection view along III-III of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a section view alongIV-IV of FIG. 2. Additionally, FIG. 5 is a top view of a collimate lens70 and an antireflection film 80 of the light emitting device 120A, andFIG. 6 is a section view along VI-VI of FIG. 5. Moreover, FIG. 7 is atop view to describe inside of a recess of a base 11 and FIG. 8 is aview to describe the configuration of inside of the recess. Meanwhile,wires (fine metal wires) 50 are omitted in FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 8 toclarify the location of each elements. FIG. 9 is a top view of thesubstrate 110.

As shown in FIG. 1-FIG. 8, the light emitting device 120A includes afirst LD element 21 that irradiates a first light having a peakwavelength in a visible range, a second LD element 22 that irradiates asecond light having a peak wavelength in a visible range, which isdifferent from the peak wavelength of the first light, a third LDelement 23 that irradiates a third light having a peak wavelength in avisible range, which is different from the peak wavelengths of the firstlight and the second light, and a collimate lens 70 provided on the pathof the first light, the second light and the third light. The collimatelens 70 has a plurality of lens portions 70A which include a first lensportion 71 through which the first light passes, a second lens portion72 that is arranged to be connected to the first lens portion 71, andthrough which the second light passes, and a third lens portion 73 thatis arranged to be connected to the second lens portion 72 on theopposite side from the side where the first lens portion 71 is provided,and through which the third light passes. The first lens portion 71, thesecond lens portion 72 and the third lens portion 73 are respectivelydifferent from each other in at least one of the shapes of lightincident surfaces and the shapes of light extracting surfaces.

It is possible to make the first light and the second lightapproximately parallel light with high accuracy with the light emittingdevice 120A. Also, a relatively small collimate lens can be arrangedclosely to LD so that the whole device can be made small. The detailswill follow.

On the surface parallel to a light emission end face of the LD element,radiation light of the LD element has an elliptical Far-Field Pattern(hereinafter, “FFP”) in which the length of the radiation light in thelamination direction of a plurality of semiconductor layers including anactive layer is longer than the length of the radiation light in thedirection perpendicular to the lamination direction. The term FFP asused herein is a distribution of light intensity of the radiation light,which is measured on the surface parallel to and far enough from thelight emission end face, and for example, it is identified as a shape ata point where the intensity of the radiation light drops to a givenintensity, such as 13.5%, from the peak intensity value. The light tendsnot to spread on the shorter side direction of FFP, thus, the LDelements can be arranged close to each other. If all of the LD lightsare transmitted through one lens portion, there is a possibility that anirregularity occurs in the spread angles of the lights with respect tothe LD lights due to the difference in the peak wavelengths of the LDelements, and thus, all of the LD lights may not be made approximatelyparallel light. In order to make all of the LD lights approximatelyparallel light, the light path needs to be long enough from the lightemission end faces of the LD elements to the lens. However, if the pathis made long, the lens needs to be large, which may result in the wholedevice becoming bulky. In contrast, with the light emission device 120A,the collimate lens 70 has the plurality of lens portions 70A and atleast one of the shapes of the light incident surfaces and the shapes ofthe light extracting surfaces of the lens portions are different fromeach other, thus, it is possible to make the lights extracted from eachlens portions approximately parallel light with high accuracy whilearranging the lens portions close to each other. Moreover, if all of theLD lights pass through a single lens portion, there is a possibilitythat all of the LD lights are not made approximately parallel lightbecause variation may occur in the tilt angles of the LD lights. Incontrast, since the light emitting device 120A of the embodiment has thecollimate lens 70 having the structures as described above, it ispossible to make the lights extracted from each lens portionsapproximately parallel light with high accuracy.

The Components of the Light Emitting Device 120A is Described Below.

(Base 11)

Each LD elements and others are mounted on the base 11. As shown in FIG.3 and FIG. 4, a recess is provided in the base 11. As shown in FIG. 7and FIG. 8, the base 11 includes a main body portion 11 a, a wireportion 11 b exposed from the main body portion 11 a inside of therecess of the base 11 and on the lower surface of the base 11, and ametallic film 11 c provided on the top surface of the main body portion11 a. The base 11 is electrically connected to the substrate 110 via thewire portion 11 b exposed from the main body portion 11 a on the lowersurface of the base 11, and each LD elements are electrically connectedto the wire portion 11 b inside of the recess. The main body portion 11a can be a member that contains ceramics. Ceramics can be, for example,aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride or silicon carbide.Metals such as Cu, W, Au can be used for the wire portion 11 b. Au andthe like can be used for the metallic film 11 c. The height from thelower surface to the upper surface of the base 11 can be in the rangefrom 1 mm to 8 mm and the length of a side in a top surface view can bein the range from 3 mm to 15 mm. The length of a side in a top surfaceview may be in the range from 3 mm to 10 mm.

(Lid Portion 12)

A lid portion 12 is fixed on the base 11 to cover the recess of the base11. The lid portion 12 includes a metallic film, and the metallic filmis provided on the area on the lower surface of the lid portion 12,which contacts the base 11. The lid portion 12 is fixed on the base 11via AuSn and the like. The space created by putting the lid portion 12and the base 11 together, where each of the LD elements is provided is ahermetically sealed space. Accordingly, it is possible to suppresscollection of dust, such as organic substances, on the light exitingsurfaces of the LD elements provided inside of the recess. For the lidportion 12, for example, a piece of glass provided with a metallic filmor a piece of sapphire provided with a metallic film can be used, and itis preferable to use a piece of sapphire provided with a metallic film.This is because sapphire is a material with relatively high refractiveindex, thus, it can suppress the diffusion of the lights before thelights enter the collimate lens 70. Therefore, the size of the collimatelens 70 can be reduced. Additionally, since sapphire has relatively highstrength, it has a tolerance for breakage and it can ensure to keep thespace where each of the LD elements is provided hermetically sealed.

(Semiconductor Laser Element)

The light emitting device 120A includes at least two LD elements thathave different peak wavelengths. In this case, each of the LD elementshas its peak wavelength in a visible range. Here, the light emittingdevice 120A includes three LD elements that have different peakwavelengths. Each LD element is arranged so that its light exitingsurface is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the recess and thelongitudinal direction of the oval shape of FFP is perpendicular to thebottom surface of the recess. Accordingly, the surfaces with largedimension of the LD elements can be arranged parallel to the bottomsurface of the recess, and thus, heat generated in the LD elements canbe diffused to the base 11 and the substrate 110 easily. The terms,“perpendicular” and “parallel,” used here can include some degree ofgradient caused by misalignment when the elements are mounted. Forexample, gradient under 5° can be included.

In the light emitting device 120A, the first LD element 21 is a bluelight emitting LD element, the second LD element 22 is a red lightemitting LD element and the third LD element 23 is a green lightemitting LD element. Each of the LD elements contains nitridesemiconductor.

The light emitting peak wavelength of the blue light emitting LD elementis preferably within the range from 420 nm to 494 nm, and morepreferably within the range from 440 nm to 475 nm. As the blue lightemitting LD element, a GaN-based semiconductor including at least one ofGaN, InGaN and AlGaN, for example, can be used.

The light emitting peak wavelength of the green light emitting LDelement is preferably within the range from 495 nm to 570 nm, and morepreferably within the range from 510 nm to 550 nm. As the green lightemitting LD element, a GaN-based semiconductor including at least one ofGaN, InGaN and AlGaN, for example, can be used.

The light emitting peak wavelength of the red light emitting LD elementis preferably within the range from 605 nm to 750 nm, and morepreferably within the range from 610 nm to 700 nm. As a red lightemitting LD element, it can include an InAlGaP-based semiconductor or aGaAs-based semiconductor, for example. Here, a red light emitting LDelement which has two or more waveguide regions is used. Particularlywhen the LD element includes a GaAs-based semiconductor, output of theLD element decreases more due to heat, compared to when including aGaN-based semiconductor. However, by increasing the waveguide region,decrease of output of the LD element can be reduced since the heat canbe dispersed and the amount of heat generated in one waveguide regioncan be made less.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, when viewed from the light extractingsurface of the collimate lens 70, shapes of the first LD element 21, thesecond LD element 22 and the third LD element 23 are rectangular and theshort side of the second LD element 22, which is a red light emitting LDelement, is longer than the short side of the first LD element 21 andthe short side of the third LD element 23. By making the width of thesecond LD element 22 including an InAlGaP-based semiconductor or aGaAs-based semiconductor large, heat generated in the LD elements can bedispersed to the base 11 easily.

(Sub-Mount)

As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the first LD element 21 ismounted via a first sub-mount 31, the second LD element 22 is mountedvia a second sub-mount 32, and the third LD element 23 is mounted via athird sub-mount 33 on the bottom surface of the recess of the base 11.As a result, it is possible to make the distance from a light emissionpoint of the light exiting surface of each of the LD elements to thebottom surface of the recess large by the amount of a thickness of thesub-mount, therefore, the lights irradiated from the LD elements can beeffectively irradiated on the light reflecting member 60. Metallic films31 a, 32 a, 33 a are respectively provided on the sub-mounts and the LDelements are respectively fixed on the sub-mounts with conductive layerssuch as Au—Sn.

For the sub-mounts, it is preferable to use the ones with coefficient ofthermal expansion that is between the coefficient of thermal expansionof the base 11 and the coefficient of thermal expansion of each of theLD elements as this will suppress peeling of the LD elements or peelingof the sub-mounts. If a material contains a nitride semiconductor isused as a LD element, aluminum nitride or silicon carbide is used as asub-mount, for example.

(Zener Diode)

Zener diodes (hereinafter, “ZD”) is provided on the sub-mount on whichthe blue light emitting LD element containing GaN is mounted and on thesub-mount on which the green light emitting LD element containing GaN ismounted. A ZD is not provided on the sub-mount on which the red lightemitting LD element containing an InAlGaP-based semiconductor or aGaAs-based semiconductor. In other words, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8,a first ZD 41 is provided on the first sub-mount 31, a second ZD 42 isprovided on the third sub-mount 33, and no ZD is provided on the secondsub-mount 32. Compared to GaN, GaAs is a material with less crystaldefect and it has relatively high electrostatic withstand voltage, thus,electrostatic discharge is less likely to occur. The length of the base11 in the direction along which LD elements are arranged can be madesmall by not providing ZD on the sub-mount on which the LD element inwhich electrostatic discharge is less likely to occur is mounted.

When the red light emitting LD element including an InAlGaP-basedsemiconductor or a GaAs-based semiconductor is arranged between the bluelight emitting LD element and the green light emitting LD element, it ispreferable to provide each of ZD on the far side from the red lightemitting LD element. Here, the first ZD 41 is provided on the first LDelement 21 on the opposite side of where the second LD element 22 isprovided and the second ZD 42 is provided on the third LD element 23 onthe opposite side of where the second LD element 22 is provided.Accordingly, the first LD element 21 and the third LD element 23 can bearranged close to the second LD element 22, and thus, the light exitingsurface of the light emitting device 120A can be made small.

As shown in FIG. 7, each LD element and each ZD is electricallyconnected to the wire portion 11 b provided in the recess via wire 50.

(Light Reflecting Member 60)

The light reflecting member 60 reflects the lights emitted from the LDelements towards the collimate lens 70. The light reflecting member 60is provided on the bottom surface of the recess. By using the lightreflecting member 60, the path of the lights from the light exitingsurfaces of the LD elements to the light incident surface of thecollimate lens 70 can be longer, compared to when the lights from the LDelements are directly irradiated on the collimate lens 70 without goingthrough the light reflecting member 60. Therefore, the adverse effectcaused by misalignment between the collimate lens 70 and each of the LDelements can be suppressed.

For the light reflecting member 60, an optical element having a lightreflecting surface at least on one surface is used. The optical elementcan be a member made from a material including, as a main component, aheat-resistant material such as quartz, glass such as BK7, metal such asaluminum, or Si, and with a light reflecting surface made from amaterial having high degree of reflection, such as metal. In thisembodiment, only one light reflecting member 60 is provided. However,two or more light reflecting members 60 can be used to reflect the lightfrom each of the LD elements with each of the light reflecting members.

(Collimate Lens 70)

The collimate lens 70 is fixed on the top surface of the lid portion 12with adhesive 90. For the collimate lens 70, for example, glass, such as“B270” manufactured by SCHOTT Corp. or “BK7” (borosilicate glass), canbe used. The collimate lens 70 has the plurality of lens portions 70Aincluding the first lens portion 71 through which the first lightpasses, and the second lens portion 72 arranged to be connected to thefirst lens portion 71 and through which the second light passes. Here,the plurality of lens portions 70A additionally includes the third lensportion 73 arranged to be connected to the second lens portion 72, andthrough which the third light passes. The collimate lens 70 as usedherein includes not only the one that makes the light perfectly parallelwith the plurality of lens portions 70A, but also the one that makes thelight approximately parallel.

With the light emitting device 120A, the lights passed through thecollimate lens 70 are made approximately parallel light by changing thecurvature 71R of the first lens portion 71, the curvature 72R of thesecond lens portion 72 and the curvature 73R of the third lens portion73, respectively. Although it may be possible to change the height ofeach lens portions, as stated below, in order to make the lightsapproximately parallel light, there is a possibility for the lenses tobe broken when the thickness of the lenses is too thin. The diffusion oflight passed through each of the lens portions, can be decreased whilethe breakage of the collimate lens 70 is suppressed by changing thecurvature to make the light approximately parallel light. Here, a lensin which its light incident surface (lower surface) is planar, and atleast the region on its top surface where the light is extracted is acurved surface is used as the collimate lens 70. Accordingly, thecollimate lens 70 that can make the light approximately parallel light,can be easily manufactured.

The curvature of each lens portion becomes smaller as the peakwavelength of the light passes through the lens portion becomes shorter.In other words, in the light emitting device 120A, the curvature becomessmaller in the order corresponding to the second lens portion 72, thethird lens portion 73 and the first lens portion 71. When the peakwavelength becomes longer, refractive index of the lens portiondecreases and the refractive index difference with air becomes small,therefore, the light gets more difficult to be made approximatelyparallel light. The light is easily refracted to get close to the centerby making the curvature of the lens portion through which light withlong peak wavelength passes larger than the curvature of the lensportion through which light with short peak wavelength passes,therefore, each of the lights passed through the collimate lens 70 canbe made approximately parallel light. The curvature of the lens portionscan be measured, for example, by using a three-dimensional coordinatemeasuring machine. A three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine canbe “UA3P” (manufactured by Panasonic Production Engineering Co., Ltd.),for example. The curvature can be found with a curve fitting software bymeasuring surface profile of each lens portions using suchthree-dimensional coordinate measuring machine. The curvature as usedherein is the curvature of whole lens surface and not the curvature of acertain area of surface of the lens portion (lens surface).

A design value of each lens portions is shown in Table 1, when acollimate lens 70 composed of B270 is provided, the length from thelower surface of the collimate lens 70 to the top of each lens portionsis 1.78 mm, the length of the light path when the light is irradiated onthe lower surface of the collimate lens 70 from the light emitting endface of LD elements, is 2.05 mm and the peak wavelength of the firstlight is 455 nm, the peak wavelength of the second light is 525 nm andthe peak wavelength of the third light is 639 nm, for example.Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 3, since the lid portion 12 composed ofsapphire with 0.5 mm thickness, is on the light path in this embodiment,effect of the refraction caused by the lid portion 12 is alsoconsidered. Conic, a4, a6, a8 and a10 in Table 1 describe themisalignment from a spherical surface and they decrease aberration,respectively. At this time, the shape of the lens surfaces can beobtained from sag amount evaluated from the formula below.

TABLE 1 First Lens Second Lens Third Lens Portion 71 Portion 72 Portion73 Curvature (/mm) 0.628 0.64 0.633 K (Conic) −0.879 −0.869 −0.873 a40.012 0.012 0.012 a6 7.92E−04 8.50E−04 8.16E−04 a8 3.45E−04 3.87E−043.66E−04 a10 −3.56E−05  −3.58E−05  −3.58E−05 

$\begin{matrix}{{Z(s)} = {\frac{{Cs}^{2}}{1 + \sqrt{1 - {\left( {1 + k} \right)C^{2}s^{2}}}} + {a_{4}s^{4}} + {a_{6}s^{6}} + {a_{8}s^{8}} + {a_{10}s^{10}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Formula}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

As shown in FIG. 5, when viewed from the light extracting surface sideof the collimate lens 70, the collimate lens 70 has the plurality oflens portions 70A and the non-lens portion 70B surrounding the pluralityof lens portions 70A. Here, the plurality of lens portions 70A and thenon-lens portion 70B are formed integrally with the same material.

As shown in FIG. 7, when viewed from the light extracting surface sideof the collimate lens 70, the plurality of lens portions 70A covers thewhole light reflecting member 60 and parts of the first LD element 21,the second LD element 22 and the third LD element 23. The hatched areain FIG. 7 is the area where the plurality of lens portions 70A locates.

As shown with broken-line frames in FIG. 2, irradiation regions of thefirst light, the second light and the third light have oval shapes thatare elongated in one direction, respectively, on the light incidentsurface of the collimate lens 70. The lens portion located on one endamong the plurality of lens portions 70A, as shown in FIG. 1, has aplanar surface which meets the non-lens portion on the opposite side ofthe lens portion located in the center, and the lens portion located onthe other end among the plurality of lens portions has a planar surfacewhich meets the non-lens portion on the opposite side of the lensportion located in the center. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when viewedfrom the light extracting surface side of the collimate lens 70, anouter edge of the plurality of lens portions 70A has linear portionsthat intersect with the direction the lens portions are connected. Thenon-lens portion 70B is located on the outside of these linear portions.The dimension of the non-lens portion 70B can become large by providingsuch planar surfaces on the plurality of lens portions 70A, therefore,it is made easy to suck the collimate lens 70 with a collet whenmounting the collimate lens 70. When viewed from the light extractingsurface side of the collimate lens 70, it is preferable that theshortest distance from the straight lines of the outer edge of theplurality of lens portions 70A to the outer edge of the collimate lens70 (“D” in FIG. 2) is within the range from 0.5 mm to 1 mm. By makingthe shortest distance 0.5 mm and up, the collimate lens 70 is easier tobe sucked with the collet and by making the shortest distance notgreater than 1 mm, the collimate lens 70 can be avoided to become bulky.

The collimate lens 70 can be obtained by forming a plurality ofcollimate lenses that are connected with a lens molding die and then,laser scribing and breaking the lens. Irregularity of curvature withrespect to each collimate lens 70 can be reduced by being molded withthe mold. At this time, because the lens portion located on one end ofthe plurality of lens portions 70A and the lens portion located on theother end of the plurality of lens portions 70A have planar surfaces, itis possible to increase the number of collimate lenses 70 that can beproduced at once, compared to when the lens portions located on bothends do not have planar surfaces. Also, when a collimate lens 70 issingulated by laser scribing and breaking, the outer edge of thecollimate lens does not have a preferable shape at times, compared towhen molded with a die. Even when this is the case, by having theabove-described planar surfaces, the lid portion 12 can be fixed byaligning with the reference line such as the outer edge of the base 11,while using the planar surfaces as the reference, thus, mountingaccuracy can be improved. The collimate lens 70 is supported by suckingthe top surface of the non-lens portion while the collet is pressedagainst on the planer surfaces, when mounted. The collimate lens 70 canbe obtained by being singulated by dicing.

For adhesive 90, it is preferable to use ultraviolet curable resin. Thatis because ultraviolet curable resin can be hardened in relatively shorttime without being heated and the collimate lens 70 can be easily fixedon the preferable position while adjusting the divergence and the angleof the lights passed through the collimate lens 70.

It is preferable to fix the collimate lens 70 after mounting the base 11on which the lid portion 12 is fixed, on the substrate 110. As shown inFIG. 3, when the base 11 is fixed on the substrate 110 via a conductivemember 100, thickness of the conductive member 100 can be uneven andthat can cause the lower surface of the substrate 110 and the lowersurface of the base 11 being not parallel. By adjusting the position ofthe collimate lens 70 after fixing the base 11 on the substrate 110, thecollimate lens 70 can be fixed while adjusting the position of thecollimate lens 70, thus, deviation of an optical axis after passingthrough the collimate lens 70 can be reduced.

(Antireflection Film 80)

An enlarged view of the collimate lens 70 is shown in FIG. 5. As shownin FIG. 5, it is preferable to provide the antireflection film 80 on thelight incident surface and the light extracting surface of the collimatelens 70 to let the lights from LD elements easily be transmitted. In thelight emitting device 120A, an antireflection film 80 that has highertransmittance with the light which has the longest peak wavelength thanthe light which has other peak wavelength among the lights from the LDelements that are provided inside an air-tight space, is provided. Here,the antireflection film 80 that has higher transmittance with the redlight emitting LD element than the other LD elements, is provided.Generally, an antireflection film reduces reflected light by invertingthe phases of the light reflecting on the surface and the lightreflecting on the other surface of the layer that configures theantireflection film and negating the effect mutually. At this time, ifreflected light is reduced by controlling film thickness according tothe peak wavelength, when the film transmits the lights with a pluralityof peak wavelength, it is difficult to uniformly transmit the lightswith all of the wavelength with high transmission since the mostappropriate film thickness for each wavelengths differs from each other.Additionally, a red light emitting LD element including an InAlGaP-basedsemiconductor or a GaAs-based semiconductor, generates heat when outputis too high and the characteristic feature of the LD element can beeasily deteriorated, therefore, the output for the red light emitting LDelement cannot be increased so much. Thus, the situation in which thered light passed through the collimate lens 70 is low, can be reduced byhaving a design that is easy for red light to be transmitted, forexample, by controlling the film thickness to have high transmission forred light, while maintaining the characteristic feature of the red lightemitting LD element.

For the antireflection film 80, a multi-layer film in which at least twotypes of dielectric layers are layered, such as silicon oxide, niobiumoxide, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, titanium oxide, tantalum oxide,can be used. Meanwhile, the antireflection film 80 can be a film that iscapable to reduce reflection and not limited to a film which completelyprevents reflection of exciting light entered from the lower side. Theantireflection film 80 can be formed by sputtering or vapor-depositionmethod. The antireflection film 80 may be provided on one of the lightincident surface and the light extracting surface of the collimate lens70.

(Substrate 110)

As shown in FIG. 9, the substrate 110 including a ceramics 111,through-holes 112 to secure the substrate 110 with screws, metallicfilms 113 to electrically connect with the light emitting device 120Aand a metallic film 114 to secure the substrate 11 can be used. For theceramics 111, the same material presented for the base 11 can be used.For the conductive member 100, for example, solder such as Au—Sn can beused. It is preferable to provide the metallic film 114 on the broadestpossible range of where the base 11 is mounted. Accordingly, it ispossible to make the interface of the base 11 and the substrate 110large, thus, it is easy to exhaust heat from the base 11 to thesubstrate 110. When securing the base 11 on the substrate 110, it ispreferable to arrange the metallic film 114 so that a part of it locateson the outside of the outer rim of the base 11, to let the excessconductive member 100 out.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 10 is a top view of a light emitting device 120B and the substrate110 according to a second embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a section viewalong XI-XI of FIG. 10. Also, FIG. 12 is a top view to describe theinside of the recess of the base 11 of the light emitting device 120B.The light emitting device 120B is substantively the same as the featuresdescribed in the light emitting device 120A, except the featuresdescribed below.

In the light emitting device 120B, the green light emitting LD elementis arranged between the blue light emitting LD element and the red lightemitting LD element. In other words, in the light emitting device 120B,the first LD element 21 is the blue light emitting LD element, thesecond LD element 22 is the green light emitting LD element and thethird LD element 23 is the red light emitting LD element. Therefore, inFIG. 10, the first lens portion 71 transmits blue light, the second lensportion 72 transmits green light and the third lens portion 73 transmitsred light. Also, the height of the first lens portion 71, the secondlens portion 72 and the third lens portion 73 are respectively differentin the light emitting device 120B. Here, the thickness of the lensportions increases as the peak wavelength gets longer. The diffusion ofthe lights entered inside the lenses can be adjusted by changing thethickness of the lens portions, thus, the lights passed through the lensportions can be made approximately parallel light.

For example, the height of each lens portions can be in the range from 1mm to 3 mm when the light incident surface of the lens portion is aplaner surface and the light extracting surface is a curved surface. Thecondition at this time is T1<T2<T3. While shapes of the light incidentsurface and the light extracting surface of each lens portions are thesame in FIG. 11, at least one of the shapes of the light incidentsurface and the light extracting surface with respect to each lensportions in the light emitting device 120B, can be different.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 13 is a top view of a light emitting device 120C and the substrate110 according to a third embodiment, and FIG. 14 is a section view alongXIV-XIV of FIG. 13. The light emitting device 120C is substantively thesame as the features described in the light emitting device 120A, exceptthe features described below.

In the light emitting device 120C, the shape of the light incidentsurface of the lens portion is different. Specifically, the first lensportion 71, the second lens portion 72 and the third lens portion 73 areprovided on the lower surface side of the collimate lens 70 and thecurvatures of each lens portions are respectively different. Also, thered light emitting LD element is arranged between the green lightemitting LD element and the blue light emitting LD element. In otherwords, in the light emitting device 120C, the first LD element 21 is ablue light emitting LD element, the second LD element 22 is a red lightemitting LD element and the third LD element 23 is a green lightemitting LD element. Therefore, in FIG. 14, the first lens portion 71transmits blue light, the second lens portion 72 transmits red light andthe third lens portion 73 transmits green light. The light emittingdevice 120C is also capable to make each LD lights approximatelyparallel light with high accuracy and the whole device can be madesmall.

The light emitting device 120C may include a dichroic mirror 160 asshown in FIG. 19. In FIG. 19, the dichroic mirror 160 is disposed on theupper surface side of the collimate lens 70 of the light emittingdevice. Since the upper surface of the collimate lens 70 is a flatsurface, the dichroic mirror 160 can be easily mounted on the uppersurface of the collimate lens 70. As compared with the case of placingthe dichroic mirror at a position away from the light emitting device120C, by arranging the dichroic mirror 160 as shown in FIG. 19, it ispossible to obtain a small footprint device. The dichroic mirror 160 hasa plurality of reflective surfaces corresponding to each of the LDelements. The first reflective surface 160 a reflects the light from thefirst LD element 21. The second reflective surface 160 b transmits thelight from the first LD element 21 reflected by the first reflectivesurface 160 a, and reflects the light from the second LD element 22. Thethird reflective surface 160 c transmits the light from the second LDelement 22 reflected by the second reflective surface 160 b and thelight from the first LD element 21 reflected by the first reflectivesurface 160 a, and reflects the light from the third LD element 23.

The dichroic mirror 160 may be bonded to the upper surface of thecollimate lens 70 via an adhesive or the like. For example, the dichroicmirror 160 may be bonded to the collimate lens 70 as follows: first, theUV-curable adhesive that is the same as or similar to the adhesive 90 isapplied to the upper surface of the collimate lens 70; second, thedichroic mirror 160 is disposed on the collimate lens 70 so that thedichroic mirror 160 contacts the adhesive; and third, the adhesive iscured by ultraviolet light irradiation. Prior to performing theultraviolet light irradiation, the position of the dichroic mirror 160may be adjusted by measuring the beam accuracy of the laser lightemitted from the dichroic mirror 160 while the first LD element 21, thesecond LD element 22, and the third LD element 23 are driven. Morespecifically, the position of the dichroic mirror 160 at which opticalaxes of the first LD element 21, the second LD element 22, and the thirdLD element 23 coincide to the extent they fall within a predeterminedrange can be identified, and ultraviolet light irradiation can beperformed at that position to cure the adhesive. Thus, it is possible toalign the optical axis of the first LD element 21, the second LD element22, and the third LD element 23 with high accuracy.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 15 is a perspective view which schematically shows the positionalrelationship of a portion of elements of an optical apparatus 150according to a fourth embodiment, and FIG. 16 shows a top view of theoptical apparatus 150 shown in FIG. 15. The optical apparatus 150includes the light emitting device 120, the collective lens 130 whichcollects the lights passed through the collimate lens 70, and the lightpipe 140 through which the lights passed through the collective lens 130pass. The light incident surface of the light pipe 140 is elongated inone direction. The direction in which the absolute value of spread angleof the first light is maximized, the direction in which the absolutevalue of spread angle of the second light is maximized and the directionin which the absolute value of spread angle of the third light ismaximized are respectively parallel to a first direction when the lightsenter the light pipe 140. The light pipe 140 is arranged so that thefirst direction in which the absolute values of the spread angles of thelights when entering the light pipe 140 and the shorter side directionof the light incident surface of the light pipe 140 intersect with eachother. The light emitting device 120A, the light emitting device 120B orthe light emitting device 120C can be used as the light emitting device120. Meanwhile, the term, an absolute value of light spread angle, usedherein refers a diffusion angle of a beam in a case the light enters thelight pipe 140 without passing though the collective lens, and refers aconvergent angle of a beam in a case the light enters the light pipe 140via the collective lens. In other words, if the light emitting device120A shown in FIG. 1-8 is used for the optical apparatus 150, thedirection in which the absolute value of spread angle of the first lightis maximized, the direction in which the absolute value of spread angleof the second light is maximized, and the direction in which theabsolute value of spread angle of the third light is maximized, are thevertical direction of FIG. 16. In this embodiment, both of the lightincident surface and the light exiting surface of the light pipe 140 arerectangles that have a pair of short sides 140 a and a pair of longsides 140 b. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, the light pipe 140 isarranged so that the shorter side direction (the direction parallel tothe short sides 140 a) of the light incident surface of the light pipe140 intersects with the vertical direction of the figure.

The spread angle of the beam of each LD light is greater in thelamination direction of the plurality of semiconductor layers includingan active layer than the spread angle in the direction perpendicular tothat direction. If the direction in which the absolute value of spreadangle is small and the longitudinal direction of the light incidentsurface of the light pipe 140 is parallel, the light with large spreadangle mostly scatters in the shorter side direction of the lightincident surface of the light pipe 140 when the beam enters the lightpipe 140. However, since the light is hardly scattered inside the lightpipe 140, in the direction in which the spread angle is small, the lightpipe 140 with the length longer than a predetermined length will beneeded to uniformly mix each LD lights. In contrast, by rotating thelight pipe 140 and arranging the direction in which the absolute valueof light spread angle is maximized when the light enters the light pipe140 and the shorter side direction of the light incident surface of thelight pipe 140 non-parallel by displacing, the light with greaterdiffusion hits against the inner surface of the light pipe 140 and itscatters in various directions. Accordingly, the light of each LDelements can be easily mixed and the colors can be mixed with a shorterlight pipe 140 than when arranged in parallel.

A chromaticity distribution obtained by performing a ray-tracesimulation on the light exiting surface of the light pipe 140 of theoptical apparatus 150 is shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 18 shows a chromaticitydistribution obtained by performing a ray-trace simulation on the lightexiting surface of the light pipe 140 under the same condition with theoptical apparatus 150 except that the direction in which the lightspread angle when entering the light pipe is in the maximal value andthe shorter side direction of the light pipe 140 are arranged inparallel. It is confirmed that the light pipe 140 with relatively shortlength according to the optical apparatus 150 can uniform thechromaticity on the light exiting surface of the light pipe 140 as shownin the results in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18.

When using the optical apparatus 150 for a projector, it is preferableto make the light exiting surface of the light pipe 140 rectangular. Itis because the image projected by a projector is generally a rectangle,and thus, the light extracted from the light pipe 140 can be projectedwithout any change by making the light exiting surface of the light pipe140 rectangular.

The light emitting device and the optical apparatus recited in eachembodiment can be used for projectors and the like.

What is claimed is:
 1. An optical apparatus comprising: a light emittingdevice including a base including a main body portion containing aceramic material and wire portions exposed from the main body portion onthe lower surface of the base, a lid portion fixed to the base so that ahermetically sealed space is defined by the lid portion and the base, afirst semiconductor laser element emitting blue light and provided inthe hermetically sealed space, a second semiconductor laser elementemitting red light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, athird semiconductor laser element emitting green light and provided inthe hermetically sealed space, and a collimate lens arranged on paths ofthe blue light, the red light and the green light; and a substrateincluding first metallic films electrically connected with the base ofthe light emitting device via the wire portions.
 2. The opticalapparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the first metallicfilms locates on the outside of an outer rim of the base.
 3. The opticalapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main body portion containsthe ceramic material of aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, siliconnitride or silicon carbide.
 4. The optical apparatus according to claim1, wherein the substrate includes a ceramic material.
 5. The opticalapparatus according to claim 4, wherein the ceramic material of thesubstrate contains aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride orsilicon carbide.
 6. The optical apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe substrate includes through-holes.
 7. The optical apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a second metallic film tosecure the substrate.
 8. The optical apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising a conductive member, wherein the base is fixed on thesubstrate via the conductive member.
 9. The optical apparatus accordingto claim 8, wherein the conductive member is Au—Sn solder.
 10. Theoptical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wire portioncontains one or more of Cu, W and Au.
 11. The optical apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the base includes a third metallic filmprovided on a top surface of the main body portion.
 12. The opticalapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lid portion is a piece ofglass provided with a metallic film or a piece of sapphire provided witha metallic film.
 13. The optical apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe first semiconductor laser element includes a GaN-basedsemiconductor.
 14. The optical apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe second semiconductor laser element includes an InAlGaP-basedsemiconductor or a GaAs-based semiconductor.
 15. The optical apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the third semiconductor laser elementincludes a GaN-based semiconductor.